Book Review: Ekklesia by Ed Silvoso

Today is Pentecost and I've just finished reading quite an interesting book that I received free from Chosen Book Publishers about how the Holy Spirit is moving in a powerful way during these last days. Ekklesia by Ed Silvoso is now available in several formats from Amazon Books.

The title Ekklesia loosely means 'the Church in the marketplace'. The author contends that we need to expand our vision as to how we view what "Church" is. This means that we see Church not just as a place with programs and ministries where we invite people to but also as the world or marketplace at large where each believer, led by the Holy Spirit, is a shepherd and each non-believer is a sheep who needs one.

The marketplace is defined as where we work or places outside of Church in which we interact on a regular basis. It is our work, our neighborhood, our town, our state.

This book was a little difficult for me to get into right away because I had slight disagreements with certain broad statements made by Silvoso. However I was kept going because of several wonderful examples of community transformation made by men and woman who were obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading. Then toward the end Silvoso puts everything together and the principles and vision he presented made a lot of sense.

Here are the high lights for me:

I found it interesting how Silvoso describes poverty. Everyday in my job as a Road Test Examiner I encounter the full range of humanity in a city with a population of a couple hundred thousand. Many of these people are poor or don't work because they are on some type disability. Silvoso, originally from a small village in Argentina, says that systemic poverty has four dimensions: spiritual, relational, motivational and material. All of these aspects need to be ministered to for an effective transformation.

Silvoso teaches that there are 4 steps in being an effective evangelist in the marketplace. The first is that we have to learn to bless and not curse. The world and Satan already place many people under a curse but curses are broken by blessings. So we need to speak peace to people.

The second step is to start to fellowship with the unbeliever. Both of these actions indicate to that person that they have worth and our love toward them in this way breaks down many barriers.

Next comes the point where we ask them if we can help them with any of their needs or if they would like prayer for anything. This step of ministry is done without any judgments.

Then lastly, because we are representatives of the Kingdom of God, and because the Kingdom has now come next to the person in need, we present the Kingdom to them in love.

After reading this part I get a client the next day who was someone whose looks and bearing made my skin crawl. The deep spiritual oppression in his life was very evident. I actually thought to myself; "Lord, you've got to be kidding. You want me to love him? Not this person!" Honestly, I fell short and didn't even make any chit chat, but I'm learning. Hopefully I will do much better the next time.

There is much, much more presented that makes Ekklesia an important read not only for Church leaders but for individual Christians as well. Many are prophesying that there is one last great move of the Holy Spirit before the return of Christ. The Holy Spirit of course always breaks out of the old forms and I would not be surprised if He chooses what is described in this book during these last days as the means for vast millions to come to know Christ in a very short time.

Prevailing Prayer

While in church today we had a family that was leaving, moving to Colorado Springs, and Dave had them come up front so we could pray for them. As we always do on such occasions the congregation holds out a hand toward them while the pastor offers his prayer and blessing.

As we were doing this today my thoughts turned to the Scripture where Moses holds out his hands toward the armies of Israel as they are in battle. While his hands holding the staff are extended victory belongs to the Israelites but when he lets his hands relax the tide turns the other way. Aaron and Hur then help support Moses's hands until the battle is won.

Here is the account from Exodus 17: 8-13

Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

Joshua did as Moses told him and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Arron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses hands were heavy. They they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Arron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek with the edge of the sword. 

Feeling that this was something I should write about I Googled for the Scripture reference this afternoon, then checked the Matthew Henry commentary, and then almost got chills while reading the commentary.

Henry points out that there are two types of battles going on here. One is in the physical and one is in the spiritual and the success of the overall war depends of what is being done in the spiritual.

There are two generals for the battle on the side of Israel. One is Moses who with God is at the center of most of what is happening in the book of Exodus, and the other is Joshua, probably about 45 years old at this time, in his first appearance in Exodus.

There are two weapons of warfare. One is the sword used by Joshua and his army and the other is the staff held up by Moses with the aid of Aaron and Hur.

You would think that the hands that would grow weary first would be the ones welding the swords. And indeed without the prayer support by Moses and then aided by his team that would have been the case. But like every spiritual battle I have been involved in, and I'm sure you have found as well, it was Moses hands holding up the staff in prayer that grew weary first.

Our lesson here is that although we will grow weary when praying for victory in the battles that life presents we need to be encouraged to press on in prayer. We grow weary because prayer is doing real battle in the spiritual. I now understand that my weariness should be encouraging because this indicates that my prayer will bring about real victories in the physical.

And then, who cannot notice that Moses was not able to press on by himself. On one side was Aaron, Moses brother, who spoke for him before Pharaoh, who messed up big time when Moses was gone for a long time on Mt. Sinai and caved into the nation's request to make for them a golden idol, but who became head of the priestly tribe of Israel. On the other side was Hur, someone who only appears in Scripture this one time.

Aaron and Hur supported Moses. They brought a stone so he could sit but still view the battle and they held his hands up so those hands would remain steady. Perhaps in our lives we will have a spouse or other family, a close friend or people from our church who will step in and offer us encouragement and rest.

May the Lord provide us with these helpers as well as the Joshua's who will fight for us while we support them with prevailing prayer.

Ecclesiastes 11 & 12

The Book of Ecclesiastes has so many wonderful images and is often quoted. The verses about there being a season, a time for every purpose under heaven was one of the readings at Jackie and my wedding.

What I like about reading poetry inspired by Scripture is that it both brings back to us those familiar images (if indeed we are familiar with the Bible) but it also presents the Word in a slightly different light. Hopefully if the poem is true to Word it may help us better understand the passage.

This is inspired by the last two chapters in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 11 & 12

As I grow old these thought persist
while casting bread on water's deep
all will come back in many days
it will be found, it will be found

I'll split my blessings seven times
and if I need then share them eight
for I don't know what lies ahead
some will remain, some will remain

When clouds are full they pour out rain
just as the wind blows where it wants
this shows me that the harvest comes
but I must plant, but I must reap

New sun will shine with pleasant light
but just as sure the night arrives
I praised those days when I was young
for darkness comes, for darkness comes

There was not need to store up grief
or foster anger deep in my heart
I knew that death comes way too soon
all will be judged, all will be judged

Before the panes of glass grow dim
and joy in life will fly away
I'll think of Him who made all things
He keeps me now, He'll keep me then

And though my tree will lose white blooms
these ears and eyes and limbs grow weak
before the silver cord gets sliced
I'll think of Him, I'll think of Him

Dust returns to where it came
the spirit flies to Him above
all men should fear Creator Lord
He sees it all, He sees it all

Who Can Separate

This is inspired by one of my most favorite Bible verses which is found in the 8th chapter of Romans.

Who Can Separate

Will it be depths too deep to climb
or heights too high to see
might there arise dark angel hoards
or principalities
when trials come as come they must
and persecution pains
if we are naked without food
and nothing left to gain
then if the sword puts us to death
our dear ones led to slaughter
and hope seems lost for everyone
including sons and daughter
still we are more than conquerors
through Him whose love is poured
cause nothing can ever separate us
from Jesus Christ our Lord

My Father-In-Law

Harry had an automatic bible
that opened to what ever Scripture he needed
and that was a useful tool
because there was no such thing
as a quick answer to a simple question

He never gave me a nice photograph
showing what I wanted to see
because together we first had to start
somewhere back in Genesis
and muck our way forward

An hour or two later
foundation laid, framed in
dry wall up and completely wired
lights would turn on
and I could see the beauty of the structure

After Harry's heart stopped
and he took that short step forward
I asked if I might have his automatic bible
he must have taken the battery with him
took me years to rewire mine

The Latest From Physics

Today I read a couple of interesting articles in the area of physics which actually made sense to me and which I want to condense for you without getting into depth about the reasons why these things work or don't work.

One involved the idea of time travel. If I just got your hopes up - sorry. Time has to do with the expansion of the universe. In theory if you could travel at the speed of light, time for you would slow down. When you came back to earth your actual age would be less than those who sent you off. That has been understood since the time of Einstein.

However it is now suggested that all of us living today are actually on the far edge of an expanding universe. We live in the now but cannot advance past the now because that does not yet exist. Of course we all knew this. It was only in movies or books that one could advance forward or backward in time, although by watching or reading we are doing this mentally, but not physically.

What keeps us from going back in time and then going forward to catch up was not explained so I'm thinking that perhaps the science is not yet settled on time travel. I will write more on this later - I will write more on this later.

It was theorized that there is something called negative energy. This has to do with the idea of mass, gravity and applied force. If you were to, for example, apply force to the mass of a ball but that ball's mass was negative rather than positive then the ball should react by moving toward the applied force instead of away from it.

Recently scientist's were able to create a liquid with negative energy. They did this using lasers upon certain particles which made those particles spin 'backwards". Actually I've done the same thing many times without needing lasers. Just toss a ball or hula hoop out with heavy backspin and it will bounce or roll back to you every time. Too bad they didn't ask me. Could have saved them a lot of money.

These principles actually work in God's economy as well. I belong to an on-line poetry site which has been great but I've discovered that a lot of people write poetry as a way to verbalize all their inner struggles, hurts and pains. Many seemed to have grown up abused, abandoned or unloved.

I would love to share with them that we need not to keep living with the pains of the past and have that define who we are in the now. The true key to reverse that negative energy is to put a different spin on our memories and relationships. And to do that usually requires something totally different than what are normal responses are.

Human nature wants to hold on to the pain caused by the abuser and does this with unforgiveness, anger and blame. A lot of times the anger and blame gets transferred to God. This of course is a lie from the enemy.

The solution many times is opposite of what we would normally think. God actually does love us no matter what we've experienced. And His love is far beyond our comprehension. It is His desire that we be free from the pain of the hurts in our pass. But to experience that we first need to forgive all who have injured us and to let go of any thoughts of getting even.  We must trust God that He will take care of things.

Right now we physically cannot go back in time but our hearts can. And because God is not bound by time He can be both there and now to bring healing and release. If we move toward Him His love will flow toward us. What could be better?

Tongues Of Fire

What sounded like a roaring wind
shook the room they gathered in
imagine shock and great surprise
when tongues of fire was their prize

They now proclaimed His glory loud
which drew a large and boisterous crowd
amazed that they could understand
God praised in language from their land

They wondered what those had consumed
at 9 A.M. throughout that room
so Peter stood and set them straight
a gospel story to relate

About the Man they crucified
who paid for all the day He died
then rose to conquer death and sin
appeared to many and their kin

Those hearts were pierced like right away
three thousand added just that day
and many more would follow soon
thanks to the fire in that room

Now if there is a lesson here
please hear my plead which is sincere
the Spirit moves in power still
when we find worshiping a thrill

Then boys and girls will prophesy
old men dream dreams before they die
the young see visions that are clear
both slave and free will be drawn near

A people renewed by tongues of flame
will shake a church that had it tame
and we'll proclaim Jesus is Lord
when greater works have been restored